Entergy chooses Virtual Earth as its mapping platform

Entergy, a company that powers parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and …

As Microsoft continuestosteadilyimproveits Virtual Earth mapping platform, companies with web sites that use maps are starting to take notice. New York City Transit chose Virtual Earth over competitors in February, and, earlier this month, Ask.com decided to scrap its own offering in favor of Microsoft's.

Entergy, a company that powers parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, has also jumped on the bandwagon. The company has started using Virtual Earth on its Storm Center and Outage Maps, a service that shows electrical outages across the four states. The servic shows outages with icons that change based on the number of customers affected as well as a boundary surrounding the area that Entergy services within or around a given state.

It is also possible to see a "System Wide" view which shows all servicing areas as well as a view that shows the outages for just one county. Entergy's maps are a great example of using the Virtual Earth API to create a custom mapping service for a very particular purpose.

On a somewhat related note, Channel 9 has launched a video series called "Behind The Maps" which aims to introduce the technology, scientists, and engineers who make up Virtual Earth. The first episode is about the UltraCam, Virtual Earth's high-resolution large format digital aerial image camera, the UltraMap software, and the respective masterminds behind the hardware and software.